Patterns and Perceptions of Climate Change in a Biodiversity Conservation Hotspot

Quantifying local people's perceptions to climate change, and their assessments of which changes matter, is fundamental to addressing the dual challenge of land conservation and poverty alleviation in densely populated tropical regions To develop appropriate policies and responses, it will be important not only to anticipate the nature of expected changes, but also how they are perceived, interpreted and adapted to by local residents. The Albertine Rift region in East Africa is one of the world's most threatened biodiversity hotspots due to dense smallholder agriculture, high levels of land and resource pressures, and habitat loss and conversion. Results of three separate household surveys conducted in the vicinity of Kibale National Park during the late 2000s indicate that farmers are concerned with variable precipitation. Many survey respondents reported that conditions are drier and rainfall timing is becoming less predictable. Analysis of daily rainfall data for the climate normal period 1981 to 2010 indicates that total rainfall both within and across seasons has not changed significantly, although the timing and transitions of seasons has been highly variable. Results of rainfall data analysis also indicate significant changes in the intra-seasonal rainfall distribution, including longer dry periods within rainy seasons, which may contribute to the perceived decrease in rainfall and can compromise food security. Our results highlight the need for fine-scale climate information to assist agro-ecological communities in developing effective adaptive management

A media framing analysis of urban flooding in Nigeria: current narratives and implications for policy

© 2017, The Author(s). A critical element of current flood management is the importance of engaging key policy actors when policy decisions are to be made. However, there is still only limited understanding of how narratives of flood management actors may influence flood management policies, even though there is a suggestion that actors can strategically use their narratives to influence policy directions. In a developing country like Nigeria, there are still questions around lessons that can be learnt from understanding the narratives of policy actors, to unravel the complex nature of strategies and policy directions in managing urban floods. To help fill these gaps, this paper uses quantitative content analysis to explore the frame of five policy actor groups (government, local communities, business, multilateral organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)) as expressed in local and national newspapers between 2012 and 2016 to understand their narratives of causes and strategies to solve the problem of urban flooding in Nigeria. The narratives of government, local communities and businesses align with the premise that flooding can and should be prevented whilst that of multilateral and business actors champion adaptation strategies on the basis that flooding is inevitable and hence more energy should be directed at ‘living with water’—emergency response, damage reduction and the aftermath. The study also identified areas of potential consensus and conflict between direct actors such as government and local communities on the one hand and funders on the other. Better discussion among actors aiding understanding of contemporary thinking and local realities will aid policy-making and policy implementation in the Nigerian context. An important step will be in the collaborative design of an urgently needed ‘Nigerian policy on flooding’ which currently does not exist

Physico-chemical properties and fatty acid composition of Lagneraria siceraria seed oil

Oil was extracted from the dehulled seeds of Lagneraria siceraria (bottle gourd) and analysed for physico-chemical properties, as well a fatty acid composition. Standard procedures were employed in all analysis. The seed oil was liquid at room temperature with percentage yield (23.65%). The oil was characterized in terms of specific gravity (0.918 g/cm3), refractive index (1.34), viscosity (26.46 X 103 poise), melting point (11-14.5 °C), moisture content (0.18%), saponification value (203.36 mg KOH/g), unsaponifiable matter (7.13%), iodine value (46.1 g/100g), peroxide value (7.5 meq/kg), free fatty acid value (18.42%), acid value (60.02 mg KOH/g) and ester value (143.34 mg KOH/g). It was also classified as non- drying (iodine value ˂115 g/100 g). The peroxide value indicates that the oil is less prone to rancidity with iodine value less than 30meq/kg. The high saponification value qualifies it for use in the manufacture of soaps and shampoos. Four classes of fatty acid were identified in the oil: palmitic acid (C16:1) (13.5 ± 0.21), stearic acid (C18:1) (6.5 ± 0.96), oleic acid (C18:1) (11.6 ± 0.62) and linoleic acid (C18:2) (68.4 ± 0.13). Linoleic acid was the most abundant fatty acid in the oil. The fatty acid content of the oil reveals that L. Siceraria seed oil could be a rich source of oil for domestic and industrial purposes if exploited

The value of indigenous knowledge in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in the African Sahel

Adaptation, Africa, Indigenous knowledge, Mitigation, Sahel, Sustainable development,

Observation needs for climate information, prediction and application: capabilities of existing and future observing systems

The demand for long-term, sustained, reliable data and derived information on climate and its changes has never been greater than today. Long-term, well-calibrated, global observations of Essential Climate Variables (ECV) such as air temperature, precipitation, and sea-surface temperature are critical for defining the evolving state of the Earth's climate. Observing systems routinely collect much of the required data covering 49 ECVs, and significant progress has been made in coverage and technological capability over the two decades since the Second World Climate Conference. However, many key regions and climatic zones remain poorly observed, and gaps are widening in some cases. Supporting infrastructures for data stewardship and analysis are largely in place but require strengthening, while those for linking with socio-economic data and for providing user-oriented information services require more substantial development. The current capabilities are summarized, and further actions are identified to ensure that climate observation activities more fully meet the needs of science and society. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was established in 1992 with the goal of providing comprehensive information on the total climate system, involving a multidisciplinary range of physical, chemical and biological observations of the atmosphere, oceans and land. GCOS is a “system of systems” that builds on the climate-relevant components of existing observing systems, and relies almost entirely upon national efforts to maintain and enhance those systems. Contributing systems include the World Meteorological Organization Global Observing System (GOS) for meteorology, its Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) for atmospheric composition, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), led by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). GCOS itself is the climate observing system within the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) developed under the auspices of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). The established in situ networks and space-based components must be sustained and operated with ongoing attention to data quality in accordance with the GCOS Climate Monitoring Principles; enhancements must be made for some types of observations; the exchange of observations and delivery of data and information to users must be ensured; reprocessing and reanalysis must be strengthened; and national and international coordination must be improved. The consequence of not meeting these requirements would be to seriously compromise the information on, and predictions of, climate variability and change. Detailed information on GCOS and the datasets that are produced as a result of GCOS observing activities can be found at the Global Observing Systems Information Center (GOSIC) at http://gosic.org